


Ace of Wands

by Shujinkakusama



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Pearlnet Bomb, Pre-Canon, Requited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-22 22:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7455889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shujinkakusama/pseuds/Shujinkakusama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garnet's been in love with Pearl from the beginning. There's no denying or helping that. Pearl certainly isn't helping Garnet sort out her feelings. // Pearlnetbomb 2.0 Day 1: Beginnings, fluff, established Rosepearl, 90% Pearlnet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ace of Wands

In the beginning, Garnet hadn’t expected anything good would come of this.

 

She told Pearl—naïvely—that she looked pretty one day, during training. They were in the garden, and the sun was setting, casting a peach glow that seemed to give her teacher something of a halo, and Garnet hadn’t meant anything by it. Pearl looked angry first, like she’d been insulted, and then had the good sense to ask if she knew what pearls were for, before she could draw a blade on their newest recruit. Garnet didn’t, and admitted that she wasn’t sure how to ask Ruby or Sapphire. Their consciousnesses blended into a blur in the back of her mind, a merry hum that created the electric current that she could use in combat, and trying to separate their thoughts enough to speak to either usually resulted in her defusing. Neither of them wanted that.

 

Neither did Pearl.

 

It lead to an uncomfortable conversation wherein Pearl stiffly explained a very abridged version of Homeworld’s caste system; emphasizing that pearls were barely considered _part_ of the social pyramid, and that their existence had everything to do with being decorative. Garnet felt her stomach drop out while Pearl spoke and apologized profusely; Pearl eventually relaxed enough to assure her that it didn’t matter, that Garnet hadn’t meant anything by it, and that it was… flattering, in a way, coming from someone like Garnet.

 

The Fusion hadn’t understood that. She was gangly and too tall and sometimes needed help walking because the ground was farther than she thought it should have been when she raised her feet to climb through brambles.

 

It was some time later that Pearl complimented her eyes, and Garnet felt her entire face burn with embarrassment. Their army was growing, and Garnet wasn’t so fresh and new, but recruits looked to her, looked at the third eye in the middle of her forehead, and whispered uncertainties that weren’t kind or subtle.

 

Pearl didn’t know this, but she did know that Garnet had three of the prettiest eyes she’d ever seen, distinct colors that no other Gem in the army had, and she told her so in private. Garnet had almost come to tears at the compliment, and she’d surprised the both of them by giving Pearl a massive hug in response. Pearl, in turn, surprised _Garnet_ by hugging back.

 

But there was distance between them, even as things started to bloom and glow and shine. Garnet needed Pearl’s arm to lean on, sometimes, and Pearl offered it without question. Soon enough, it was something they shared, a wordless exchange of support and love. They linked arms long after the war ended.

 

But by then, Garnet knew without question that she was in love with the renegade. And therein lay the problem; Pearl was in love with Rose Quartz, and there was nothing the Fusion could see that could change that. Nothing that would. Pearl belonged to Rose in every sense of the word, and no amount of adoration from her would change that.

 

It didn’t stop Pearl from inviting Garnet to lay down with her in the grass, to lean into her when they walked, or from curling up against her when Rose was out and the two of them had just returned from an arduous mission. Pearl fit perfectly against her side, and Garnet never wanted to question what motivated her affectionate behavior. Surely, she thought, the answer would only upset her.

 

Still, millennia passed, and Garnet’s feelings grew stronger by the day. Pearl sometimes curled around Amethyst, too, but seemed to light up when Garnet offered to join them. Rose would curl around everyone, and the Crystal Gems were exactly right, even down to four of thousands.

 

Pearl was always there when she returned to the Temple, usually waiting between the warp pad and the door. She would greet her with a warm smile that Garnet was sure could melt her Gems, congratulate her on her work, and fill her in—always arm-in-arm—on the things she had missed during her missions. They would go down to the boiling room together to talk, and Garnet would relax in the lava pool while she gave her report.

 

There were some boundaries Garnet didn’t dare cross, though with Pearl she never quite knew where those lay. They held hands; they rested together; they didn’t kiss; they didn’t bathe together. But one night, delirious with exhaustion after almost a week out on a mission alone, and perhaps affected by the venom from the Rhodochrosite spider she’d been tracking, Pearl had kissed her so soundly that Garnet saw stars for several minutes. Rose Quartz had cheered her on, much to Garnet’s shock and confusion, and even Amethyst had agreed that the looks on their faces were perfect. The knight cradled Garnet’s face in her hands and very sincerely praised her for being ‘perfect in every way’, then passed out only moments later, and Rose had gathered her up in her arms to take her to her room.

 

The next day, Pearl apologized profusely, and Garnet naturally forgave her. She smiled with her visor firmly in place, stroked Pearl’s hair, and assured her that she knew it was the spider’s spell. Something flickered in Pearl’s eyes, a protest that never made it to her lips, and Garnet was left to wonder if she had guessed correctly. The odds were strongly in favor of Pearl being influenced by the arachnid’s magic—the alternative, where Pearl kissed her and meant it, meant for the world to tilt and the stars and moon to shine like it was daytime, was unthinkable.

 

And yet…

 

It wasn’t the last kiss Pearl gave her, and Rose was always there, rooting them on. It was only the beginning, their leader insisted, and Garnet didn’t know what to make of that. But it was good, and warm, and left dragonflies fluttering in her stomach, and a single look at Pearl told Garnet it was worth it.


End file.
